The Puppy Mutiny

I told you some weeks ago about my very first puppy class and how very well-behaved I was. A few weeks had gone by since then and I was now allowed to walk from the car into the hall on my own paws. I was feeling much more confident and I felt it was time to liven things up a bit.

We all did a little walking on our leads with our bipeds and then the trainer asked us all to go and sit down. She said it was time for us to do our recall – I could hardly wait! The first puppy ran down the hall to his biped, as normal. It was my turn. We went to the trainer. My biped unclipped my lead and the trainer held my collar. My biped jogged to the other end of the hall, got down on her knees and called, “Clowie, come!”

The trainer released my collar and I set off towards my biped. I ran about a quarter of the way and made a sharp turn. I headed towards Bess, a Labrador, who was always keen to play. Bess was really excited, but her biped held tightly onto the lead and all Bess could do was roll around on the floor. This wasn’t quite what I’d hoped, but we played as best we could. My biped arrived near me and the trainer told her not to grab me, but to try to entice me away with treats. There wasn’t much chance of that happening, as I was having a wonderful time!

Suddenly someone was bouncing on my back – it was Benjy, the Dalmatian! He was trailing his lead, he’d managed to get away from his biped. There was nothing Benjy liked better than to run as fast as he could, so we set off on a circuit of the hall together. The trainer shouted to our bipeds, “Just catch them!” Benjy and I did not make it easy for them, but they caught us after a few laps of the hall. We returned to our seats and the trainer said it was Bess’s turn to do a recall.

Bess’s biped went to the other end of the hall and, as soon as the trainer released Bess, she ran over to me to continue our game. I did my best to get free of my biped, but I couldn’t no matter how hard I bounced and pulled. Benjy appeared, he’d managed to slip his head out of his collar. He and Bess set off on a circuit of the hall, their bipeds in pursuit. This was so much fun! All the puppies were trying to get free now, so that they could join in.

Once Bess and Benjy were caught, it was the turn of Tim, the Yorkie, to do his recall. He ran around and barked at everyone, until his biped caught him. When it came to Benjy’s turn to do a recall, he was so excited he was jumping up the trainer while she was trying to hold him. He went and bounced on Bess then ran across and bounced on me, before he set off on another circuit of the hall. He was having a wonderful time! None of the remaining puppies did a conventional recall, but they were all caught quite quickly.

The rest of the evening was much livelier than usual and all the puppies enjoyed themselves immensely! The trainer told our bipeds that they must do a lot of training in the week and she expected us all to be much better next week. She also said that they should all think hard and provide more interesting treats for us puppies. I was still excited when we got in the car to go home, but I soon found myself drifting off to sleep and dreaming about the wonderful treats my biped would soon be giving me.

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Oh yeah! Mom remembers her first sweet Sibe literally breaking her choke chain collar and running around to play with the other puppies! Mischa failed that class! But won her CD Champion USA in 3 straight shows! Paw pats, Savannah

This made me laugh so much. It reminded me of the puppy parties I attended. Beloved didn’t reckon much to the nice lady who ran them because the first 10 minutes was always a free for all with all of us puppies off the lead and playing. I think she thought it would get some of that energy out of us….but, it wasn’t quite enough time to do that and all it served to do was get us excited.
I do remember when we had to walk alongside the trainer and then stop and sit to get a treat. I’d watched a couple of other pups doing this and when she took my lead I walked alongside, stopped and sat before she said anything!! I had my thoughts firmly on how to get that treat 🙂
Fortunately she laughed – and I go the treat because after all I did what she wanted. Thinking back I should have got two because I didn’t need to be told bol

It sounds like you had some fun at classes sometimes. I think you should have got two treats. You were showing initiative! But then not all trainers like dogs doing that. We’ve met a few really good trainers and we’ve met a few really bad ones.

It really was great fun! She was embarrassed at first, but I kept her so busy she soon forgot about it. I think by the end of the evening all the bipeds, except the trainer, were having fun – but they wouldn’t admit it!

Oh Clowie, that was so funny, I’s can imagine all the bedlam going on..bol 🙂 These Bipeds need training..cos we wants interesting treats…like cheese, chicken, sausage..yum yum.
You have a great day
Mollie xx

Well Clowie it sounds like you gave it a good try anyway! Who could resist stopping along the hallway when all those other puppies were there to play with!!! Besides – you DID “almost” make it to your biped before you were distracted….you get points for that in MY book anyway! 😀

Oh the mayhem, that class really went your way! Sometimes the most fun happens when you least expect it. I bet that trainer was trying hard not to laugh to. Can’t wait for the next play day…err puppy training class.

Me and Nellie think you must have had a wonderful time with all those puppies running amuck. Me and Nellie have not been to puppy school. By the time mummy thought about doing it, I was not a puppy anymore. Look forward to reading about next week’s adventure. Love Jasper and Nellie the two bestest maremmas in New Zealand.

That puppy class sounds like a BLAST! In my training class, we never got off our leashes, but one scary sausage dog kept trying to bite my face off, anyway. I wish I could’ve transferred to your school! It’s totally a party school!

BOL that is ringing a lot of bells typist had a similar problem when training her dog (not me as I am perfect) he did laps of the hall, greeting everyone – he particularly loved a Rottweiler (he was a cairn) and would play with her at every opportunity!

The trainer in this class had a different technique than they ‘just grab em’ and suggested typist made to leave, which would worry the young cairn, and he would come back and follow her out the door.

This did not happen and typist spend twenty minutes stood outside as he did laps of honour not giving one hoot!

Things improved later during the training course when toys to retreive were added, this means he now had something to carry and show all the other dogs while doing his laps, and typist spend more time stood outside!!

That sounds brilliant! That’s my sort of class. You’d think the trainer would have figured out that her way of solving the problem wasn’t working. But my biped says that she’s met too a number of trainers that only have one method to try and say stuff like, “it will work”.

Oh Clowie, you playful puppy! A better treat sounds like a great idea. I wish you lived closer so Flash and Patches could share their treats with you. You’d never want to do anything but what your biped told you to get those treats!

What a wonderful fun time you had! Isn’t it great when you can have such an awesome time and get the bipeds trained up and socialised at the same time?!! You must have been so popular with your K9 peers 🙂 It was very good of you to teach them how to deal with troublesome bipeds too!

Oh my goodness, that sounds like it was such a fun class for you! I prefer to go visit all of my puppy friends when we are doing this weird thing called “stay”…pft, there’s no need for a word like that! I much rather prefer the word “play!” 😀 Keep up the good work and don’t worry about the bipeds, you’re too cute for them to be upset!